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Monday, May 19, 2014

Keep Your Chocolate Fountain And Give Me My Candy

I've had one thought in my mind for the last few days - candy. Not the Candy Crush kind of candy, because I've been stuck on level 421 for over a month now, and I think there is no hope for moving forward. It just isn't as much fun anymore.

(So I've been playing Pet Rescue Saga while I think about candy.)

These candy thoughts started because my family ate at a buffet last week. When I was a kid, the exciting thing about going to an all-you-can-eat buffet was the dessert area. I ate a plate of salad, picked at my mac and cheese, and pushed some sort of chicken dish around my plate, all in anticipation of hitting that dessert bar.

I can still picture the dessert bar from my childhood buffet place in my mind. There were a few bakery items (brownies, cookies, and pie), but they were not my dessert destination. I wanted the ice cream and candy toppings. There was a whole row of 20 glass jars full of different kinds of candy just waiting to be sprinkled over your bowl of ice cream. And I was going to get something out of almost all of them.

When you go to an all-you-can-eat buffet now, there are a lot of bakery items, most of which seem to be sugar-free. They have several different flavors of ice cream coming out of the machine (more than half of which are also sugar-free), but the topping choices are disappointing. You might get sprinkles, fake M&Ms or gummy bears, and maybe some chopped nuts. But that is it. It is far from inspiring.

Not that they shouldn't have sugar-free options. That is fine. I just want to have full-sugar options as well.

Sugar-free isn't really the issue here, anyway. Fountains are the issue. They have replaced all the good desserts with fountains.

Chocolate fountains. Caramel fountains. White chocolate fountains.

Can we all just admit that fountains aren't that great?

And they certainly aren't a replacement for 20 glass jars of different kinds of candy. Plus there always seems to be a kid with dirty hands sticking his fingers in the fountain, which does not make me very excited to eat from them. The whole experience just seems messy.

I know there are places you can go to get ice cream and candy toppings (or fruit toppings for you healthy people), but that just isn't the same. I feel disappointed every time my family talks me into going to a buffet with them.

8 comments:

What's funny is that I remember ice cream being less exciting as it is now. Explain that one to me!Yes, dessert bars were better when I was kid. I'm a bit of a supertaster so I can taste when things aren't fresh or are lower quality or overly processed. Boo to that!

My brother had a dessert buffet bar at his wedding and it was actually everything I dreamed about and more.

Now I really want to go to a buffet. I remember being about to take a dime to various local places and pick out ten individual pieces of candy - 1 green Jolly Rancher, 1 piece of bubble gum and so on. That was awesome.

Yeah, my daughter LOVES the chocolate fountain, but I'm like - meh. I don't even go to it anymore, even though the first and second time I was in chocolate heaven. Most buffets I would go to had the vanilla ice cream at the end. Some still do, so I like that. Small yummy treat. :)

When I was a kid there were no dessert bars, okay? No fountains of any kind...yeah, I'm that old. But I LOVED going to the store and buying a bag full of candy to share with my friend that would last most of the day for...wait for it...$1. Yeah, I'm that old.

I've been warned about the health dangers about those fountains. Apparently the chocolate recirculates, so when kids stick their hands in there and lick, then stick them in there again...well, let's just say it's a good way to spread viruses, don't you think? It seems like a chocolate fountain at a buffet is a bad idea, since so many kids are allowed to run free at those...

I've heard that those fountains are pretty unsanitary. I've never actually been to any sort of function where there is a chocolate fountain, but it seems to me like it would just be a huge mess. I agree with you on the ice cream toppings. When I was a kid, there were different types of sprinkles as far as the eye could see... now it's like... okay nuts... okay I guess these mini- M&M things...